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Good morning. The killing of Alan Henning – announced in the latest Isis video on Friday night - has produced a torrent of grief and outrage. This was the murder of a good man, humane and compassionate, who respected Islam and had many Muslim friends. Although some will see his death as evidence of failure I think it could mark a turning point in our response to the ISIS campaign of horror. I was struck by the fact that his widow spoke of her family’s pride in Alan. And Baroness Warsi, the first Muslim cabinet minister, described him as ‘a true martyr’.

When we think of martyrs perhaps our first thought is of early Christian being thrown to the lions. The language around martyrdom has always been dangerous and open to misunderstanding. It has been particularly corrupted recently, taken over by suicidal nihilists who believe apparently that they are headed straight for Paradise. But the martyr tradition in Judaism, Islam and Christianity does not belong to those who despise human life. In the early Church those who sought a dramatic death by martyrdom were told very firmly to snap out of it.

Real martyrs are not drama queens. They don’t want to die, they are often as afraid and intimidated by death as any of us would be. They die because their witness to truth and love and goodness provoke the enemies of truth and love and goodness to demonstrate the one power they actually possess; the power to kill. Life and death mean nothing to them. But for true martyrs life is sacred. These ISIS murders have revealed the fact that wicked people are simply enraged by goodness. They can’t endure truth or compassion because the only drum they dance to is that of violence. Pleas for mercy infuriate them because it reminds them deep down in some part of themselves they have chosen to forget of the humanity they once had and have thrown away.

In this time of sadness we need to take a step back. Martyrs are among those who change history. Their names are remembered with pride when those of their killers have faded into obscurity. It is not what we always want to hear but death is not the worst thing that can happen to us.

We can share something of Barbara Henning’s pride because the values for which Alan died are eternal and indestructible. He did not want to lose his life but his death will be seen, I believe as a sacrifice; which will be justified ad redeemed by time, as will be the sacrifice of the other journalists and aid workers killed in recent months.

The best way to honour his death is to stop wringing our hands at our helplessness and harden our resolve to live for truth, justice and mercy. We are not as helpless in the face of evil as we sometimes feel.

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